Jo taking on Glasgow holiday rip-offs

Jo Swinson has pledged to stand up for East Dunbartonshire holidaymakers being forced to pay over the odds for holiday flights from Glasgow Airport.

Research carried out by Jo has shown that holiday deals which include flights from Glasgow are typically hundreds of pounds more expensive than equivalent deals using airports south of the border.

Comparing the deals offered by two top travel agents to 10 holiday destinations from Glasgow, Manchester and London airports, the research revealed:

• average prices from Manchester airport are nearly £200 cheaper than from Glasgow airport;

• average prices from London airports are over £300 cheaper than from Glasgow airport;

• holidays to Florida showed the largest difference, with departures from London costing over £900 less than from Glasgow.

Commenting on the findings, Jo said:

“This research shows that, outrageously, people in East Dunbartonshire who want to go on holiday from Glasgow airport can expect to pay a premium of hundreds of pounds for the privilege. By travelling south to airports in England, they could save between two and three hundred pounds on average.

“One resident from Bishopbriggs who has contacted me about this situation was frustrated to be told that it would be £500 cheaper to take his family to Manchester airport instead of flying out of Glasgow. Holidaymakers should not be forced to choose between paying this extra money and travelling to airports down south.

“Slightly higher charges may be justifiable when flights have to travel longer distances from Glasgow, but this does not appear to be the reason behind these price hikes. The highest price difference I discovered was on flights to Florida, which actually fly up over Scotland en route to the USA.

“I am in the process of raising this situation with BAA, to ask why users of Glasgow Airport are facing higher charges. The Competition Commission is currently investigating claims that BAA operates a monopoly in Scotland, where it owns Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports. One outcome of the investigation could be the enforced sale of Glasgow airport to improve competition.”

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